Costa Rica’s outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves will stay inside the next government as Minister of the Presidency and Minister of Finance, preserving the immunity that shields him from corruption allegations even as he leaves the presidency, president-elect Laura Fernández announced Tuesday. The arrangement hands an outgoing leader significant sway over the incoming administration and keeps the machinery of power in the same hands, just with a new title attached.
Who Keeps the Levers
Fernández said Chaves will hold both posts in the incoming administration, and she is set to take office on Friday. At a public event Tuesday in San José, Fernández framed the handoff as seamless cooperation, saying, “Just as we have done since the first day of your administration, we will continue working very well as a team.” That “team” now includes an outgoing president who will remain protected by the immunity he enjoyed in office while facing legal troubles.
The arrangement is unprecedented in Costa Rican politics, according to the base article, and it marks another move by Chaves’ political movement that has tested the country’s democratic norms. Rather than a clean transfer of power, the setup keeps the same political network embedded in the state apparatus, with Chaves retaining influence over the next government from inside its own cabinet.
Who Pays for the Continuity
Fernández pitched herself as a figure of “continuity” in the lead-up to February elections, and many ministers and leaders from Chaves’ government will also remain in their previous positions or swap roles. Fernández herself once acted as Minister to the President to Chaves, the role the outgoing leader will now assume. The result is less a break with the old order than a reshuffling of the same hierarchy, with the same people circulating through the same offices.
Chaves is described as a firebrand populist who has cozied up to U.S. President Donald Trump. He is known for lashing out at the media and critics and has sought to project himself as a figure similar to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele by cracking down on an uptick in crime in the historically peaceful Central American nation. Recently, Chaves agreed to accept 25 third-country deportees per week from the U.S. His government was accused of pushing for the Trump administration to strip the board of directors of a critical newspaper of their visas.
What They Call Accountability
The move by Fernández also preserves the immunity Chaves enjoyed as president while he faces legal troubles. Last year, Chaves’ presidency was rocked by scandal when he faced accusations by Costa Rican prosecutors of illegal campaign finance and corruption charges, which he has denied. Prosecutors accused Chaves of pressuring a close associate and government contractor to give a chunk of money from the contract to a former campaign adviser.
Costa Rica’s legislature has tried and failed to strip Chaves of his immunity twice. With his appointment as a minister, another attempt appears unlikely, especially as the ruling party now holds a majority in the legislature. The legal and legislative channels that are supposed to check abuse have already failed twice, and the new appointment makes a third attempt look remote.
Chaves has said the accusations are political revenge by the country’s attorney general and Supreme Court magistrates. Costa Rica’s opposition politicians criticized Chaves’ appointment. Legislator José María Villalta said Tuesday the appointment was a blatant attempt to “grant or preserve immunity for controversial politicians from the outgoing government rather than to improve the functioning of institutions.”
The quote lands with the force of the whole arrangement: the institutions remain, the titles change, and the immunity stays put. Associated Press journalist Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City.